So, we know a little bit about our characters' pasts, but what do we really know? Nothing. That's what we really know about our characters, except a little excerpt here and there. Well, I've decided to do something for this: it's the whole generation before this one that we're currently playing as. Meaning this generation's parents in Hogwarts and such.

Why?- Because I said so. :L I thought it would be kinda cool to do a prologue-type thing, before all the iPods and technological advances, no Katy Perry or Co&Ca or anything like that.

Note: I know that Adrian's portion of chapter one is short. ;-;

Last edited by Nat Smiley. on Tue Jun 02, 2009 7:08 pm; edited 1 time in total

.r.o.s.e.The small eleven-year-old made her way through the crowded Platform 9 ¾’s, gripping her trunk, trying to keep up with her mother and father. In her other hand she held a medium-sized cat carrier, and inside her kitten was asleep. She looked up at her parents, who towered above her—everybody seemed to. Tripping slightly on the hem of her long black robes, she struggled to keep up. When they stopped, they both bent slightly downward to meet her face.

“Rose, you be a good girl, okay?” the mother asked, her long black hair pulled back in a ponytail. Her daughter had mimicked that style, only it was a high ponytail, with her jet-black bangs to the side of her Japanese face. She looked up at her mother, and nodded. “Remember to mail us. Make lots of friends. Love you.”

“Love you too,” Rose said, and let go of her trunk handle to give her mom a one-armed hug. So what if it was in public, and she was eleven? It didn’t matter; she wouldn’t see her mom for awhile. She turned to her dad.

“Make lots of friends,” he said, and smiled. He, too, got a one-armed hug from his daughter. “Be a good girl, Rose. Stay out of trouble. Love you.”

“Love you too.” Gripping the handle of her trunk again, Rose nodded to her parents. “Sayonara.” She rolled her trunk—thank goodness it had wheels, it weighed over 9000 pounds—to the train, and stepped on. Before disappearing down the train corridor, she let go of her trunk handle and waved to her parents again. She wouldn’t see them for a good nine-to-ten months, if she stayed at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for holiday breaks. Walking down the corridor of the train, Rose held her trunk and her cat carrier close to her, shaking slightly in anxiety. It wasn’t too long before she found an empty compartment, and she slid in, and put her trunk up on the luggage rack above the seats. She put her cat carrier on the seat next to her, and peered in between the bars of the metal door of it. Her fluffy cocoa-colored kitten was snoozing away. Smiling to herself, she leaned her head against the window.

Noticing her parents waving, Rose rolled down the train window, and waved back. Oh, how she would miss them, she thought, as she smiled to her parents. As the whistle blew, she noticed her mother sidling through the crowd. Rose leaned out of the window slightly, as her mother came up to the window, and held up a small brown sack tied with a simple string. “Here!” Mrs. Nakanishi called, handing the sack up to her daughter. Rose stretched her fingers, and grabbed it. “It’s some money; don’t use it all on the train! Sayonara!”

“Sayonara!” Rose called back, waving. The train blew some more steam, and before long, the train was going through the tunnel of the station, and was en route to Hogwarts. Rose sat down on her seat, and opened the door of her cat carrier. Almost immediately her cocoa-colored cat frolicked out, and settled on Rose’s lap. Being the way she was, Rose had changed into her school uniform before even leaving the house. The uniform consisted of a long black cloak that trailed ever-so-slightly on the floor behind Rose’s feet, a soft white blouse with the House tie (since Rose was unsorted, that would come later), a charcoal gray vest and a matching skirt. In addition to that, Rose was wearing knee-high white socks with lace up on the knees, and black Mary Janes on her feet. Petting her kitten, Rose looked out the window, humming a tune that she was making off the top of her head.

The green pastures rolled by out the window, the blue sky of late morning looking quite welcoming on this particular fall day in England. Rose leaned her head against the window, watching the trees go by, and an occasional hill or two. She sat there for what seemed like forever, until she closed her eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

***

When Rose opened her eyes, it took a second or two to stretch and yawn. But after that second or two she realized that her kitten was gone, off of her lap, and not in her cage. Quickly, Rose sprung to her feet, looking under the seats. No kitten. Standing, Rose looked around, and stood on the seats to check the luggage rats. No kitten.

The compartment door was wide open. “Stupid…” Rose mumbled angrily, stepping out of the compartment. “Stupid, stupid…”She told herself. Looking through the windows of the compartment doors, she finally found a compartment that had some girls all gathered around in a circle on the floor. Rose knocked on the door nervously. One of the girls turned her head, and nodded. Sliding open the door, Rose stepped in.

“Um…” she started. “Have you seen a brown kitten, about this big?” Rose motioned with her hands how big her cat was. “She seemed to have run off while I was sleeping.”

“Oh, this cat?” the girl who had motioned Rose in asked, standing up and turning, holding the kitten that Rose had lovingly named Neko. “She wandered in, so we decided that we’d keep her for a little bit.”

“Thank you!” Rose exclaimed, taking the kitten and rubbing the top of its furry head. “I’m Rose, by the way. Rose Nakanishi. You are?”

The girl pointed to herself, smiling a smile of pearly-whites. “I’m Dawn Donovan. This is Elsa”—she pointed to a redhead on the floor, who looked up and grinned wildly—“that’s Patricia”—she pointed to a girl wearing purple-rimmed glasses, who looked a little timid—“and that there’s Deborah.” So-called Deborah grinned at me, and I could see her blue braces. Rose waved to everybody as they were announced, and smiled shyly. She knew she’d have trouble with the names. Dawn, Elisa, Patricia, Deborah. Dawn, Elisa, Patricia, Deborah. Dawn, Elisa—

“Want to sit here?” Dawn offered. Everybody was already seated, and Dawn and Patricia scooted over to make room for Rose in between them. Rose shook her head.

“Eh, no thanks—I need to take Neko back to my own compartment and… things like that. How long is it until we get to Hogwarts?” I asked them.

Elisa tucked her vivid red hair behind her ears and looked out the window. “Well, since it is dark out now, so I’m guessing it’ll be about another thirty minutes,” she said after a moment of thought. “Please sit with us?”

“Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?”Deborah dragged out the word, looking over at Rose. “Pretty please?”

“…”Rose stared at them, and then sat down between Dawn and Patricia. Everybody gave a little cheer in mock happiness. Well, at least they were interested in befriending her, right?

“So, what House do you think you’re going to get in?” Deborah asked as soon as I sat down. “I think I’m going to be a Hufflepuff, same with Elsa. Patricia thinks she’ll be a Gryffindor. Dawn thinks she’ll be a Ravenclaw.”

Rose thought back to what her parents had told her about the Houses. Gryffindor was where the brave people went; Ravenclaw had most of the really intelligent people, but other Houses had smart people too; Slytherin was for those sly and cunning; and last, but not least, Hufflepuff, for the loyal people. She shrugged. “Dunno.”

“Then it’s decided I’ll be a Gryffindor?” Rose stated, but it unintentionally came out more of a question. “I don’t know; I’m not that brave…” Rose trailed off, stroking the fur of her cat. She looked around—everybody else had already changed into the uniforms that were similar to hers. Rose sighed in relief when the train stopped—she wasn’t too excited to make friends just yet. “Do I leave Neko in the cat carrier, or not?”She asked as everybody stood up.

“Thanks,” Rose told them, and left to her original compartment. She stuck Neko inside the carrier, and locked the door of it. Neko looked at her with sad eyes, as if to say, Don’t leave me. Rose smiled at her kitten, stood, fastened her cloak, and walked into the corridor to meet up with her acquaintances.

***

As the first-years stood crowded together in the Great Hall, Rose was tapping her foot nervously. She stood next to Dawn, feeling very anxious. Sure, Rose had known this was coming all of her life, but now it was actually happening, and she was wondering what House her and her new friends would be in. She had decided now to call them friends, since they’re accepting her into the conversations and including her. Rose felt at home already, and she hadn’t even been sorted. Though, McGonagall stood up there in front of the stool, holding the Sorting Hat in one hand, calling out the first few names.

“Andrews, Toby Dean.”

As the boy stumbled up to the stool and was sorted into Gryffindor, Rose whispered to Dawn: “You nervous?” In the time they had spent together, Rose learned that Dawn didn’t know much about the magic world, as she lived with her mother, who was a Muggle. Her mother had said that Dawn’s father had indeed been a wizard, but had disappeared one night, so Dawn had never known anything about magic. But, even though Dawn didn’t know half of what was really going on, she seemed calm, and at ease.

“Kinda,” Dawn whispered back. “What about you?”

“Very,” Rose replied, “very, very anxious indeed.”

“Brown, Adrian.”

A pale-looking boy walked up to the stool, and placed the tattered hat on his head. His hat covered up his auburn locks of hair that barely reached his ears, and the brim slid over his bright blue eyes. Rose decided that now would be the time to pay attention. He was the first boy she had noticed.

“GRYFFINDOR!” the hat called out. The Gryffindor table exploded into cheers of celebration, and a few more students were called.

“Chavez, Patricia.”

Patricia jogged up to the stool, and sat down excitedly. The hat slid over her eyes, and stopped right above her full lips, the lower one she was biting. It wasn’t too long before she was announced a Gryffindor—even Dawn and Rose cheered for her.

“Donovan, Dawn.”

Rose gave Dawn’s back a reassuring pat before the blonde walked up to the stool. Putting the hat on her head, it took a few moments before it yelled out Ravenclaw. Rose cheered, and inside deeply hoped that her and Dawn could be Ravenclaw buddies or something. So far, Dawn was Rose’s closest friend of the four that Rose had met on the train. As more names were called, the line of students in front of the Great Hall got smaller.

“Farrell, Nicolas.”

A Gryffindor.

“Frye, Deborah.”

Deborah waltzed up to the stool and stuck the hat over her mass of dirty-blonde hair. Almost immediately the hat declared her as a Hufflepuff. For some reason, Rose had had a feeling that Deborah would be a Hufflepuff. She just kind of had the Hufflepuff spirit and energy around her. More students were being called. “Jennings, William” was announced as a Hufflepuff. Right after, “Kim, Alec” was announced a Slytherin.

Rose tapped her foot, and her heart leapt up to her throat when “Nakanishi, Rose” was called.

Nervously, anxiously, Rose stepped up to the stool. The hat slid over her eyes, and all she could see was darkness. She listened to the hat pondering which House to put her in. Ravenclaw, maybe, you are intelligent… you could be Hufflepuff, you’ve never broken a promise, always loyal. But I know you aren’t a Slytherin or a Gryffindor. Hmm… decisions… I guess I’ll have to put you in…

.a.d.r.i.a.n.The auburn-haired boy was welcomed gracefully at the Gryffindor table. He sat down, beaming with pride, amazed that he could have been sorted. He had not known about this magic ever before, it was all new to him. Adrian was a Muggle-born, so on the train ride, he had been hanging out with some people (Nicolas, a fellow Gryffindor; Toby Dean, another fellow Gryffindor; and William, now a Hufflepuff), and they had given him all the information he would need, for now anyway. He was set, for now anyway, as he had been told by William.

“Found any girls you like yet?” Nicolas asked Adrian in a whisper. “Even though we haven’t been here for an hour—see anybody cute?”

Adrian pondered this for a moment. He hadn’t really studied any of the girls so far. Besides, they were eleven, it was the first day, and he need not get swarmed by teenage hormones yet. Toby Dean, on the other side of Adrian, had stated that every year there’s a beginning-of-the-year feast and a few other feasts as well periodically throughout the year. One at Halloween, Christmas, and at the end of the year, possibly more—Adrian loved this news.

“Nakanishi, Rose.”

As a girl timidly walked up to the stool, Adrian smiled to himself. She was pretty cute. In his vision, he loved her silky black waves of hair that fell slightly past her shoulders when held up in the high ponytail she was wearing, and in the split-second that she faced the crowd before the hat was over her eyes, he could see that she looked nervous—her almond eyes looked worried.

“Adrian, shut up about people you like, it’s the beginning of the year,” Nicolas told Adrian.

“But… hypocrite,” Adrian mumbled to himself. He stared up at Rose, who looked very anxious indeed, like she was about to pee herself from the pressure of what House she was going to be in. A Muggle-born just like Adrian, perhaps?

“RAVENCLAW!” the hat declared loudly. The Ravenclaw table erupted into screams, and Adrian clapped politely. He felt slightly dejected that this cute girl wasn’t in his House, but no matter. Over the course of the seven Hogwarts years, he was sure to get over her and find a new crush. Over the course of the next seven days he could probably find a new crush. Besides, he didn’t even know this Rose—he had just deemed her as cute.

“Zamora, Elsa.”

A redhead ran up to the stool, and jammed the hat on her head eagerly. She was practically vibrating on the stool when the hat announced her as a Hufflepuff. Excitedly, she jumped off of the stool, and was halfway to the Hufflepuff table when she had to give the Sorting Hat back. Adrian gave himself a facepalm, even though the facepalm wasn’t properly invented back then.

Once the sorting was over and done with, over 9000 ghosts flew in through the walls, and floated around as a menagerie of food appeared on golden plates all throughout the hall. Roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, fries, peas, carrots, gravy, ketchup, Yorkshire pudding, and even peppermint humbugs. Adrian licked his lips hungrily, and started to pile things onto his plate.

Nicolas and the Gryffindor ghost Sir Nicolas de Mimsy-Porpington were having a little chat. Nicolas regretted it, though, when he asked how Sir Nicolas had gotten the nickname “Nearly-Headless Nick.”

“I hope I don’t end up like him,” Nicolas said to Adrian in an undertone. “He scares me. I don’t want to be nearly-headless.”He stuffed a roll in his mouth.

“Shut up!” Nicolas yelled, pulled his half-eaten dinner roll out of his mouth, and threw it at Toby Dean. Toby Dean and Adrian just started laughing. “It’s not funny! It’s disrespecting the ghost of Gryffindor tower, too. I don’t think I’d want to anger a ghost. They do spooky things, you know.”

Adrian and Toby stopped laughing for a moment, and exchanged worried looks. Perhaps Nicolas was right… but still, it was awfully funny that they shared a name. Adrian and Toby started laughing again. Nicolas, too, fought back the giggles that were coming up out of his mouth. Eventually, all of them were in a pit of hysteria, for almost no reason at all. And they had all thought the girls were the ones who laughed for no reason.

Guess I was wrong, Adrian thought to himself as the dessert appeared. Ice cream in any flavor imaginable, treacle tarts, apple pies, strawberries, Jell-O, rice pudding, orange pudding, any pudding, wizard sweets (licorice wants, every flavor beans, chocolate frogs, things of the like), and Adrian was suddenly hungry again when the dessert had come.

Finally, when the dessert was gone, the headmaster stood. He explained that the forest on the grounds is forbidden to anybody, and a reminder that no magic is used between classes in the corridors, and when Quidditch trials would be. Adrian turned to Nicolas and Toby Dean with an inquiring look on his face, and the two lazily waved one arm per person, as if to say they would tell him later. When the headmaster was done giving the directions, everybody was dismissed, Prefects leading the students towards the common rooms.

On the way out, Adrian noticed that Rose girl again. She was talking animatedly with a girl who had also been sorted into Ravenclaw, and it appeared as though Ravenclaws and Gryffindors were going in the general same direction—up to one of the towers. Before he knew it, Rose was right beside him. Then, a split second later, the two Houses were going in different directions.

The dirty-blond, tall and burky man stared out of the plane window while sipping his coffee. The hair was short, and quite thin, and considering how he was cut with a buzzcut. Despite the fact that he was only 24, and wasn’t like other men in the 80’s with their crazy-long hair or afros, or whatever the style was.

He set the plastic cup on the pull-out table on the seat on front of him, and pulled his chair back. The computer map on the televisions showed that there were still a fair amount of hours to go through before he reached the bay of India.

Sadly, half the things he brought in his bag wouldn’t go through the security- tons of energy drinks and yogurts- and he didn’t bring any money, except for the taxi when he arrived. So all he had since 3:00PM in the afternoon was a sub-sandwich he made from the rented apartment and the murky airplane coffee. Of course, there’s supposed to be a dinner of some sort, but those never have enough for his too-large appetite.

The garbage lady passed his aisle and he gave her the coffee cup with a smile. The small yet growing caterpillar on his upper lip upturned and he withdrew his arm, turning to his bag and reached for a pen to fill out the immigration forms.

Name: Robson CruiseAge: 24Occupation: Miner

The pen had darkened for the reason that he had shaken it to get the ink out. Rob eventually had filled out all the papers, and leaned back to fall asleep.

Last edited by ^ABBA^ on Tue Jul 14, 2009 8:58 am; edited 2 times in total

After the next few hours of waking up and eating dinner, and then falling back asleep, Rob shook himself up and felt the immediate drop of the plane. They were FINALLY landing. And of course, the announcement rang through all the speakers, stating them to pull their seats up and slide their bags under the seat in front of them.

“Ah, finally.” Rob sighed and stretched his arms.

It took quite a while for him to pass through customs and get his baggage, but he finally made his way to the end of the airport and out of the doors. Steaming heat slapped him in the face and he could feel his pale skin already tanning. Blinking his gray-green eyes at the gleaming sun, he made his way out of the shadows and raised his hand for an upcoming taxi.

The door opened and a small and round man came out. He nodded eagerly and took the two big bags of luggage from Rob and tossed them in the open trunk.“Come in, come in! It’s hot out here and you Englishman will burn!” he nodded eagerly and opened the passenger seat door.“Thank you, sir,”“No need to thank, please wait until you are at the desired place,”“Erm, this is all last minute- I really have no idea. I’m just here to work at the mining committee, by the ocean- It’s called Western Bala Arvan Mining Incorporation, and I need to find a hotel open, because my apartment isn’t ready-““Ah, yes,”“Shonima Hotel is right by the shore, and it’s cheap and good for a few nights, and it’s a walk away from the mining. Just through the forest- the trees were planted to drown away the sound of the dynamite- A big, red building with a swimming pool,” the man said in his strong Indian Accent. “O-Okay, how much per night?”“130 bucks,”“130- Oh- Any cheaper?”“Yes, but those are closed for bug infestations, and the ones next in line are all full; it’s summer.”Rob swore under his breath. The man swerved the car out of the hallway and into an exit.“I have idea! You can stay with us, Englishman! For a few days, until your apartment is cleaned! Yes, yes! You will stay with us.”“Us?”“My family. Big family. Name is Devilal. A big dinner is tonight, you will join us.”“What- no-“He swerved the car around causing Rob’s bag to hit him in the side of the head.“Ow!”“You won’t pay. I’ll drop you off at my home, and you were my last customer, so it’s all perfect! Me and my youngest daughter are the only ones who know English, so we’ll help translate for you.”

And so instead of going south to the bay, they turned west towards the mining company, and went into a private neighborhood to a small yet roomy house with a small backyard with yellow, dried grass.

The car was parked outside and the two of them departed it into the blazing heat.

“No air-conditioning, but we do have fans,” Devilal said, and the two of them entered the building. It was tight, and full of colorful mismatched chairs and carpets, with brightly painted walls along with similar paintings. Small sculptures scattered the place on mahogany side-tables and a small potted tree was stuffed in the corner. It smelled of rice and naan, along with a strong and spicy curry aroma. Two small kids ran past them wearing nothing but their birthday suit, and was deliberately chased after by a woman in a tunic. Music was heard from a static radio settled on yet another table top, and a small rusty-toned baby with a tuff of black hair was hitting it with a small toy.“Big family reunion, fun fun.” A very small and skinny girl with a similar rusty-skin color with dark brown, messy and uneven hair that was pulled back in a loose braid walked over to them.“Papa!” She hugged him and took his hat.“Oh, a visitor? Who is this?” she said with a wide grin. Her wide black eyes gleamed eagerly with curiousity.

She thrust her hand out for him to shake, and stared up at him.Rob stepped back and looked down at her- she was only at his shoulders. He awkwardly shook her hand and smiled.“I’m Kalyanni, whome may you be?” she asked.“Er- Rob, Robson Cruise- please call me Rob.”“Rob it is!” she then yelled out in Hindi at everybody else, leading to them greeting him.

Women leaned out of the kitchen greeting him with wooden spoons and knives and such in their hands, before returned to their cooking.

Everybody in the entrance stopped what they were doing and waved cheerfully.

“It’s so busy,” Kalyanni sighed at her father and placed his hat on the passing running kid. His mother caught him as he was screaming and squirming, and made his way upstairs.

“Are the others home from work yet?” Devilal asked.

“No, you’re the first.” Kalyanni replied and she rubbed some flour off her long nose. She grinned again her too-wide smile and cast a look at Rob for a quick second.

“Why are you here?” she questioned him as she grabbed the other running kid by the arm and pulled him up into her arms. She passed him to the woman who was scolding the other in Hindi. Probably something about not running in the house naked.

“Oh, I’m here as a minor but my apartment isn’t cleaned out and no hotels are open.”

“Isn’t the Shonima Hotel open?”

“Too much, I only brought 80 dollars.”

“Ah. Well, you’ll be sleeping on the carpet, everything else is taken.”

Devilal left for the stairs muttering about a bath, and eventually his muttering turned into Hindi, leaving Rob standing there staring at the racket.

Rob sighed exasperatingly and stood there staring at them.

An hour later, tons of other men came home from various jobs and greeted Rob in Hindi. They all strolled up the stairs themselves and since Rob had nothing else to do, he had changed into something lighter and cooler. He was now a wearing light T-shirt made of Egyptian linen, and a pair of khaki shorts the similar color to his eyes.

They all settled at the wide picnic table in the front yard and huge bowls of rice and sauces of curry and other spicy sauces, along with platters of naan, and a bowl of salted nuts, another bigger bowl of couscous with chopped tomatoes and raisins and other things inside it arrived. Plenty of roasted vegetables that were seasoned with paprika and basil were settled, along with roasted lamb.

Everybody was introduced to Rob and tons of conversations in Hindi were exploding from everywhere around him. He mainly talked with Kalyanni considering that Devilal was busy speaking with the other men.

She questioned him of his work and of back in England, while he asked her many questions of her home life, and what it’s like down in India. The two of them were talking so much that they hardly had time to eat.

That night when they were setting Rob’s bed up- several vibrant-colored pillows stacks on the carpet for him, along with a blanket, Rob felt as much in home as he had ever felt. The vast amount of food, warm and welcoming people, and comfortable feeling, Rob was at peace as he tried to communicate with the wide gray-haired elder lady who apparently was Kalyanni’s mother. The two kids who had been running around naked early were settled on a couch watching him and the mother set the pillows in a comfortable position for him to sleep well and at least not have to rest on the itchy velvet carpet.

The moon shone through the open windows as the house quieted down, and their mother passed around a hot cinnamony drink that lead Rob to feeling warm and fuzzy.

Cricket noises were heard and one of the oldest men who looked at least 97 years old began telling a story in Hindi to the kids. His long, bony arms shook in the air as he raised them up to the sky, while his voice raised to a yell occasionally. The kids sat on the edge of their bums, and then cheered when he was done.

Eventually, all the family members left with long goodbyes, and then it was only Rob, Kalyanni, Devilal, and the mother.

Soon enough Rob was there alone with Kalyanni. And so, the two of them talked the night through. Except for when Kalyanni fell asleep leaning against the wall by the carpet, and he fell asleep on his face. And both, by that morning, were as sore as a board.

Kalyanni never imagined that she’d meet an Englishman, and especially one like Rob. Sure he was shy, and seemed quite like every other man, but she really enjoyed his company, and still found him funnier than most other men.

Over the next few days Kalyanni and Rob socialized even more and became closer friends. Even though it was only three days, they were soon feeling different feelings, due to human nature.

“Yes, the apartment 534,” Rob said impatiently into the phone. He was settled in an armchair the third night and was talking to the apartment manager, asking about his apartment. He was getting really impatient, and nervous, because it’s been long enough that the apartment hasn’t been open yet.

“We had a sardine accident, and are soon finished cleaning up the tiles and removing the odor, sir,” said the deep, low voice that was flowing with an Indian accent. He seemed to be calm, breezy, and was clearly doing two things at once.

“I don’t care if there was a sardine accident, when is the exact day my apartment will be ready?” Rob demanded in the phone.

“Umm, how are you to wait for three more days? Sardine sticks quite a lot- especially the odor-“

“Yes, it’ll be fine.” Rob sighed. He hung up and explained to Devilal the bad news. He didn’t mind the apartment not being ready, but he was worried about Devilal, a bit nervous if he were taking up too much space and privacy. Of course, they never seemed to mind, but he still felt awfully guilty for intruding their family life, even if it is due for six days.